Improving Physical Fitness for Milwaukee Youth

Building opportunities to support children in meeting physical activity requirements in afterschool environments

Full Project Name:Policy & Systems Change to Impact Health in MPS & the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater MilwaukeePrimary Community Organization:Milwaukee Public SchoolsPrimary Academic Partner:David Nelson, PhD, Family and Community MedicineAward Amount:$250,912

Award Date

January2016

Project Duration:30 months

Project Description Narrative:

In order to increase healthy fitness levels and develop an orientation to lifetime fitness in high school students at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), project partners aimed to develop and implement policy, structural and systems changes that would provide improved physical education programming and engagement among targeted youth in MPS and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.

Community partners:
MPS Office of Innovation and Information, MPS Office of Academics, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Marquette University, MPS Department of Recreation

Outcomes & Lessons Learned:

Developed a Response to Intervention (RtI) program within MPS physical education system, referred to as the "Passport to Lifetime Fitness, " recording 145 completed online passports
Developed a manual to guide MPS and Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee staff in implementing the program, conducting nine SPARK Trainings (evidence-based physical education programs) and training 74 staff on the approach
Secured adoption of district-wide physical education policy that includes implementation of the RtI framework across all MPS)high schools. As a result, 38,558 students received Tier 1 instruction in physical education
Redesigned Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee's "open gym" concept to provide more consistent, structured programming for youth to support the interventions in coordination with MPS programming
Identified new understanding that making data to support students learning about physical activities available to teachers reinforced policy changes and fostered growth in all students
Project partners have presented at state and national conferences about their work